1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to amusement devices, and pertains more particularly to a manually actuated toy vehicle launcher.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A number of toy launchers are disclosed in the patent literature. Elastic bands and springs have been employed. Air propulsion has been utilized. Also, a relatively large number of vehicle launchers have been contrived in which the manual force is applied directly to the vehicle in order to effect movement of the vehicle from a stationary position.
Perhaps the closest patent, although still quite dissimilar, is U.S. Pat. No. 4,087,935, granted to Edmisson et al on May 9, 1978, for "TOY VEHICLE WITH HOUSING." This patent discloses a toy vehicle in which the manual force is indirectly applied in that an inertia motor mounted on the vehicle is set spinning by depressing a plunger. More specifically, the plunger actuates a gear train and belt to cause spinning of the inertia motor. When its inertia motor reaches a sufficiently high spinning rate, the toy vehicle leaves the housing in which the plunger, gears and belt are located, then rolling across a flat surface. A spring causes the plunger to return to its original or raised position so that it can be again actuated to literally rewind the inertia motor when the toy vehicle is replaced within the housing.